


Painting the Trees

by lilserket



Series: Painting the earth [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Angst, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Off Screen Death, the end of a funeral is shown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 06:38:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6894106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilserket/pseuds/lilserket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a god what paints the trees and leafs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Painting the Trees

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 of my Painting the Earth au

"Ahh, jeez...he's ignoring my texts again," Bokuto sighed as he stared at his text to his best friend he had sent hours ago. "The one night I have off and he's too busy painting the damn sky again," he complained to himself walking back to his apartment building.

He frowned looking at himself in the reflection of the doors before a strong gust of wind went past him, a leaf landing on his shoe. He blinked before reaching down to pick it up as his eyes widened.

_"Bokuto don't you dare step foot inside those woods," an older mans voice called out as the child stood near the edge of the woods outside of the city._

_"Why can't I go in there?" the child asked looking back at the old man._

_"There is a spirit in there what takes humans, you would go in and never go out."_

_The child gulped as he looked back at the woods, the trees seemed taller now as he backed away, wind picking up as a leaf fell on top of his head. He felt like the woods were pulling him in. He stared back at the woods noticing an animal on top of a tree. An owl. A horned owl._

Bokuto shook his head, snapping out of his day dream as he opened the door to go into the apartment, but something stopped him. In the distance, he could hear the faint sound of a flute being played.

'Where is that coming from,' he thought to himself closing the door as he started to walk in the direction of the sound calling to him.

He walked as the sound got louder, and louder, until he was standing at the edge of the woods. "Is someone in there playing the flute?" he wondered to himself as leafs circled around him as another gust of wind blew.

"Hoot, Hoot."

Bokuto snapped his head up, eye's meeting with an owls, not just an owl. A horned owl. "Just like when I was little," he whispered to himself as the owl took off into the woods. He stood there, hesitant to go in, but the flute was still playing, and that owl. Just like before.

He gulped before taking a step towards the woods, entering them. He followed after the sound before hearing the owl again. He looked up, meeting it's eyes before it flew off again. "Is it leading me?" he asked himself before following after it.

He panted as the owl flew into a clearing where a small pond was. The flute was loud now, as if it was right there. "Excuse me?" Bokuto called out, looking around before his eyes landed on a figure leaning against the trees, it was too dark for him to see fully, but the person looked like he was wearing some type of armor, and something behind him. "Are those wings?" he asked out loud as the person jumped, wings spreading out looking like he was about to take flight.

"Wait!" he called out as the person halted. "You were playing the flute....I heard from the city."

"How...could you have heard that from the city?" the figure questioned wings still out ready to fly out of there.

"I don't know...it was faint but it was like it was calling to me...and then an owl lead me here," Bokuto laughed nervously as he fumbled with his fingers.

The figure didn't speak for a few seconds as he looked up, eye's meeting with the owls. "I see...I'm sorry for disturbing you, forget you ever saw me," he told the boy before flying into the sky.

"Wait!" Bokuto gasped amazed by this being. "Are you a demon?"

The figure stopped in the sky looking down at the human as a small smile appeared on his face. "No, far from a demon," he told him before flying up into the sky.

The boy watched as the figure flew out of site before the sound of his phone going off got his attention. 'Kuroo would never believe this,' he thought as he looked at the screen, writing a reply and sending it before looking around eye's catching the owls. "Can you...maybe lead me back home?"

* * *

 

"Bro, I'm telling you, I went to the woods last night and a horned owl was waiting for me at the opening."

"Bokuto, are you sure this wasn't a dream?"

"It wasn't! It lead me to a small opening in the woods, there was a pond and some decent sized rocks and the boy playing the flute was there! But he was different, it was dark so I couldn't really see, but he looked like he was wearing armor and had wings!"

"Yeah, you're dreaming."

"Kuroo," Bokuto whined as he cleaned out the coffee machine. "It wasn't a dream, it was real and he even spoke to me! And then the owl lead me out of there!"

Kuroo sighed tapping the counter he sat at watching his best friend clean up from work. "You drink too much coffee before bed, it's giving you strange dreams."

"What about you? You're always painting the sky. An obsession you had since you were a kid ever since your grandmother told you about the god what paints it," the older mentioned as he put away coffee cups before heading off to wipe off tables.

"But, I've never seen something not human with that, it's just a legend really, what I fell in love with."

"Then come with me to woods. He'll be there again tonight. I just know it."

"I can't..."

Bokuto rolled his eyes at his friend, wiping down the tables, making sure they were clean for tomorrow morning. "Because you have to paint the sky. I know, I know," he huffed walking back behind the counter, throwing the rag in a basket for the owner to wash.

"Sorry," Kuroo apologized before looking at the time, getting up. "I have to go, I need to catch the sunset before it starts."

"Goodbye, be safe."

"I should be saying that to you. Be careful walking in the woods by yourself."

"I will! Nothing will happen to me there," the older grinned as Kuroo rolled his eyes before heading out. Bokuto smiled waving him off.

* * *

 

Bokuto hummed softly to himself as he sat by his apartment window, waiting, listening. It was dark out now, the flute should play anytime.

Time passed and he was slowly falling asleep at the window before a soft sound was heard. He popped his head up hearing the flute before he rushed out of his apartment room and down the stairs. 'He's back,' he thought to himself as he ran out of the building and down the road.

He clutched his chest, breath heavy as he stood in front of the woods. He really should invest in a bike or something.

"Hoot, hoot."

Bokuto take in a deep breath before looking up at the horned owl as it looked at him before flying off into the woods. He smiled following after it. 'If that person in there didn't want me to come back then the owl wouldn't have waited for me,' he thought as he followed it deep into the woods.

He smiled as he came to the clearing, looking around before seeing the figure sitting on a rock on the other side of the pond. "I knew I'd see you again," he spoke excitedly as the person stopped playing the flute.

There we a few things Bokuto could see now with the moon reflecting off the pond. The figure had a mask on covering from nose up what looked something of an owl, he had markings on part of his face he could see. The armor the person was wearing had feathers on the shoulders and up the middle part of the mask. They looked to be the same color of the figure's wings but it was still to dark to tell what the colors were.

"Yes...I come here often," the figure told him packing the flute safely into his bag. "You heard my flute again?"

"Of course, how could I not hear such a pretty sound...and when I came that owl was waiting for me," Bokuto looked up pointing at the owl staring back at him. "Umm...but why are you here?" he asked sitting down on the ground.

"I'm making sure everything is doing okay in the woods until I can take care of it again," the figure replied picking up a dead leaf what had fallen.

"Take care of it? What are you? A god?" he asked crossing his legs watching in amazement as the figures wings stretched out before pulling back in.

"A god? Not right now, I will be again though."

"What do you mean 'not now'?"

The figure frowned as he crossed his own legs. "I'm a god but I left my position to protect the sky god, but he'll have a knew guardian soon enough and I'll return as a god," he told the human watching his mouth drop.

"So what are you a god of?" Bokuto asked eye's and mouth opened wide. Maybe Kuroo was right. Maybe he was dreaming.

"I help the tree's change for the season. I change the colors of the leafs, and make them fall. I help tree's age until they die, and then I help them grow again," the figure told him as he placed the leaf in his hand down into the pond water.

"So you're like...a tree god?" The human asked as the god in front of him nodded. "So can you change the color of a leaf right now?"

"No."

"No?"

"When I became guardian to the sky god it took my god powers away. When I go back to my position as god, I will get my powers back," the god told him as he stretched his wings out again. It was getting late, he needed to return back to the sky.

"Do you have a guardian?" Bokuto asked, watching the figure rise from the rock before flying up off the ground.

"I don't...my position isn't as high as others," the figure told him flying higher.

"I can be your guardian then!" the human yelled out scrambling to his feet as the god looked down on him. "My names Bokuto."

"Would you want to become one? It's not an easy job, and you will have to die for it," the god told him as the boy nodded, he sighed dropping back to the ground, this time in front of the human. "When the time comes, we will meet again, and I will have something for you to hold on to until death," he told him before holding out a hand.

Bokuto smiled taking the hand in his shaking it slightly before letting go. "What's your name?" he asked as the god took flight again.

"Akaashi."

* * *

 

"Akaashi," Bokuto muttered as he stood in front of the woods in the daylight. It had been days since he heard the flute, nor has the owl been there to guide him into the woods.

He sighed turning away from the trees walking back towards the city. He hummed sadly to himself, dragging his feet until the world seemed to dim suddenly. He looked up noticing the color of the sky going from a bright blue to a dull grey. "Woah," he whispered to himself stopping in his tracks.

"I'm the guardian of the sky god."

He remembered Akaashi telling him. "So that god Kuroo is obsessed with is real," he gasped as he started to walk back to his apartment again.

* * *

 

Bokuto stood at the grave of his best friend. Their friends and family had already left the cemetery. Four years had passed since he had last seen Akaashi, four years since the sky turned grey, four years since Kuroo had kept a secret hidden from him.

He felt hot tears roll down his face as he bent down as he broke down for the sixth time that day. The tenth time that week since he had gotten news of his best friends passing, from what was said to be natural cause.

He wiped the tears from his face as a small sound came from the direction of the woods. The flute he had gotten used to hearing. 'Akaashi,' he thought picking himself up from the ground, giving one last look towards Kuroo's grave before walking away.

Bokuto took his time getting to the woods. He looked up as the owl burned holes into him before flying into the woods. 'Just like old times,' he thought his lips twitching upwards as he followed the bird into the woods.

He walked until he saw the clearing. The sun was just setting, so he could see everything clearly now. "Akaashi," he called out as the flute stopped playing, the god once covered in armor now stood in front of him in long robes of brown and black. His eye's were an intense orange color what glowed in the reflection of the sunset, dark green markings on his face, like tree roots. His wings were the same color of his robes.

"Bokuto," Akaashi answered back stepping towards the human a small smile playing on his lips.

"Kuroo..."

"Is up with Kenma, the sky god," the god replied as he took Bokuto's hand in his. "I told you...a human becoming a guardian results in death, it cannot be avoided, it could have happened earlier or later," he told him squeezing his hand. "Are you still wanting to be my guardian."

Bokuto stood there, looking at their hands as he bit his lip. "I...lost my best friend because he wanted to be with the sky god that paints the skies," he let out a shaking breath, freezing as a hand touched his cheek, making him look up at the god of trees.

"Do you not want to be with me?" Akaashi asked wiping a stray tear from the human's face. "You can see your friend again," he added having grown attached to the human from the few times they had met.

"I do, I still want to be with you," he whispered as the god pulled away before pulling out a leaf what was multi-color.

"A gift from a god, god's can only give one out, this will allow you to come to me when your death comes," Akaashi told him handing the leaf over to Bokuto.

"When will I die?" Bokuto asked as the god flew into the sky.

"When the time comes, you won't feel any pain. Most likely, you will pass in your sleep," the god told him before disappearing into the skies.

"I see..." he whispered looking at the leaf in his hands before following the owl out of the woods.

* * *

 

"Bokuto," Akaashi's voice was smooth and gentle.

Bokuto groaned as he opened his eyes, the sky bright around him as he looked around until he saw Akaashi. "Am I dead?" he asked sitting up, noticing he was on a bed of multi-colored leafs.

"Yes, you passed away in your sleep exactly one year later, since giving you my gift," he told him as he helped the human up from the leaf pile. "Do you still wish to become my guardian?"

Bokuto looked around, noticing they were actually in a room. A giant orb of the earth in the middle of it, the sky was just an illusion. "What is that?" he asked getting distracted from the gods question.

"That's how I change the tree's to match the seasons, every green, orange, yellow, red, brown and black areas are tree's for the seasons," Akaashi told him walking over to the earth, zooming in on a set of trees. He took a small paint brush as color orbs circled around him before stopping allowing him to touch one with his brush before painting a green leaf red.

"And that leaf will be red on Earth?" Bokuto asked watching the god paint a couple more leafs red before switching to orange, then yellow.

"Yes," the god answered before putting the brush away as the orbs disappeared. "Now...answer my question," he walked back up to the human, grabbing a fist full of grey hair, pulling him so their faces were close to each other. "Are you going to be my guardian?"

"Yes."

Akaashi smiled as he smashed his lips into Bokuto's as the leaf pile swirled around them.

Bokuto closed his eyes until he felt the god pull away. Slowly he opened them back up, looking at his hands he noticed he was wearing brown and white armor with black accents on it. He reached up feeling the same type of helmet Akaashi had been wearing when he had first met him.

He felt an odd twitch in his back before realizing they were wings. "Wow," he gasped trying to fly with his newly acquired wings only to drop to the ground.

"I will teach you how to fly later," Akaashi chuckled helping his guardian up from the ground. "But right now, I believe you have someone you want to see."

Bokuto thought for a moment before his chest fluttered. "You'll take me to see Kuroo!?" he asked excitedly feeling the god grab on to his hand, leading him towards the door.

"Of course."

"You're the best Akaashi!"

"You're being too loud..."

**Author's Note:**

> Bokuto's armor and look in the end is based on a Great Horned Owl  
> Akaashi is based on an Eurasian Eagle Owl
> 
> lilserket.tumblr.com


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